29 replies to this topic

[Paprika]

Not long now until the new Mclaren in launched, i cant wait to see the "obvious design innovations"

[HandyNZL]

I bet they have four tyres

[Insider]

Going to be controversial to say the least, so I am told.

[Caesar]

no duck nose, yeahhhhh

[BradSpeedMan]

Caesar, on 01 February 2012 - 11:22 AM, said:

no duck nose, yeahhhhh

well it's one beautiful car... and when it does as it proves with last year's RBR's car...it should be pretty fast. Well, it LOOKS very classy and fast!

Edited by BradSpeedMan, 01 February 2012 - 12:06 PM.

[JHS18]

Can't see how I see it is "controversial" or "radical" in anyway. But those are the words you always hear before a McLaren launch and more often than not, it isn't the case. Or those innovations don't work in testing.

Ah. I always feel underwhelmed about McLaren.

[Caesar]

very pretty car but it is only presentation setup, guys at F1Technical say that many parts are dummies, so we will have to wait testing days

[Argento Reloaded]

For example the final exhaust position is pretty hide.

[rumblestrip]

I like it.  It's pretty and doesn't look like it's been driven under the back of a parked semi trailer.

[Quiet One]

OMFG ZOMG ITS SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...ordinary?

I might know zilch about cars, but I know a lot about untrained eyes and to those, it looks like last year's car! Where's the controversy? They said "radical"! I expected at least photon torpedoes and unobtainium powered engines! I want my money back!

[Rainmaster]

Yep, it's more of an evolution of last year's challenger. They might need something more than an evolution to beat Red Bull. We'll see!

[Caesar]

McLaren managing director Jonathan Neale told Sky Sports News that their  "reassuringly expensive" new car is anything but cautious. does this mean that poor Felipe will be hit even more again in 2012?

[BradSpeedMan]

I'm looking forward to Handy's assesment

[BradSpeedMan]

what... no one had the time to post pictures....??

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[BradSpeedMan]

the best shot of them all....

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[Quiet One]

The ridiculously huge front wing and the ridiculously small rear wing make it look like a 1-mile-long car...that's one neat perspective trick

If this is being radical I can't imagine what "radical" design will Ferrari come up with. "Look! The prancing horse logo now prances 1% less than before! Saucy!"

My only hope is that Poochie F1 will give us the photon torpedoes and unobtainium-powered engines.

[Caesar]

Poochie F1 will give us C2H6O - powered rocket with fastest Alconaut in the world (and universe) onboard.except Cosmonauts, who are known for their vodka powered  takeoffs.

[Schumikonen]

The big question here is How they got around the new nose height regulation? is the chassis lower on the front or they didn't pay attention to that rule at all? I think that is were the controversial part of the car may be.

Edited by Schumikonen, 02 February 2012 - 01:07 AM.

[Caesar]

Schumikonen, on 02 February 2012 - 01:07 AM, said:

The big question here is How they got around the new nose height regulation? is the chassis lower on the front or they didn't pay attention to that rule at all? I think that is were the controversial part of the car may be.

they have run very low nose last year, almost inside 2012 rules , so this year's car is mostly evolution of  last year's car

[Schumikonen]

Caesar, on 02 February 2012 - 02:14 AM, said:

they have run very low nose last year, almost inside 2012 rules , so this year's car is mostly evolution of  last year's car

That's a great news that means they won't be affected by that rules, I mean they won't have to change that much and therefore there won't be any performance lost by that regulation, that is IMO of course.

[HandyNZL]

1.  They have inverted the side pod intakes from last year, which were in a laying down P shape.  The MP4-27 intakes have been moved to the top half of the pod area with massive sculpturing on the underside (whereas they had the channel effect on last years car).  This under intake sculpturing leads directly into the exhaust flow, which will only serve to speed up the exhaust flow up and onto the wing.



2.  The rear of the body work is extremely tight, I would say tighter than Red Bull's last year.  This suggests gearbox modifications, maybe along the lines of William's with their stepped box design from last year.  Interesting if that is how they have made the tail so tight.

3.  The is a new vane spreading the front wing pylons below the nose.  This was not there before.  I imagine that this will be directing flow under the car so as to create some downforce air flow under the car.

4.  The front wing has sprouted a few new elements, but playing with front wings is all a bit hit and miss, I reckon. Quite possibly a single element wing found on older cars and/or lower formulae would be just as efficient with a perfectly sized Gurney Strip.

5.  McLaren was never going to produce an ugly stepped nose...they were inside the regs even last year.  If you go back to the MP4-20 in which Kimi charged around in, it's nose was almost kissing the tarmac.  This is why I said in the Caterham thread "why the need for the step?"



6. Looks good, and I expect it to be pretty fast...though will make a final judgement once Adrian Newey puts his car out for show and tell.

MP4-26:



MP4-25:



MP4-24



MP4-23:



MP4-22



MP4-21:



Such a nice colour scheme...

So as you can see, the Macca has never had a high nose, not for some time in any account.

Edited by HandyNZL, 02 February 2012 - 04:45 AM.

[Insider]

HandyNZL, on 02 February 2012 - 04:22 AM, said:

1.  They have inverted the side pod intakes from last year, which were in a laying down P shape.  The MP4-27 intakes have been moved to the top half of the pod area with massive sculpturing on the underside (whereas they had the channel effect on last years car).  This under intake sculpturing leads directly into the exhaust flow, which will only serve to speed up the exhaust flow up and onto the wing.



2.  The rear of the body work is extremely tight, I would say tighter than Red Bull's last year.  This suggests gearbox modifications, maybe along the lines of William's with their stepped box design from last year.  Interesting if that is how they have made the tail so tight.

3.  The is a new vane spreading the front wing pylons below the nose.  This was not there before.  I imagine that this will be directing flow under the car so as to create some downforce air flow under the car.

4.  The front wing has sprouted a few new elements, but playing with front wings is all a bit hit and miss, I reckon. Quite possibly a single element wing found on older cars and/or lower formulae would be just as efficient with a perfectly sized Gurney Strip.

5.  McLaren was never going to produce an ugly stepped nose...they were inside the regs even last year.  If you go back to the MP4-20 in which Kimi charged around in, it's nose was almost kissing the tarmac.  This is why I said in the Caterham thread "why the need for the step?"



6. Looks good, and I expect it to be pretty fast...though will make a final judgement once Adrian Newey puts his car out for show and tell.

MP4-26:



MP4-25:



MP4-24



MP4-23:



MP4-22



MP4-21:



Such a nice colour scheme...

So as you can see, the Macca has never had a high nose, not for some time in any account.

Great post, Handy. Super stuff.  Looks nippy, for sure.

[Senna's Ghost]

On first look it seems that McLaren have increased the angle of the drop of the nose over last years car.  As has been stated in the past they have favoured a lower nose than most.  Those who are going a long the path of the stepped nose are hoping to expliot the area under the chasis aerodynamically that this design allows you.  If a team can get this to work for them then maybe they will have an advantage over the others.  It would certainly put McLaren on the back foot and it would be difficult for them to recover as their overall car design philosophy is not geared around that route.  I'm sure they would have explored the stepped design and clearly they could not get the numbers they were after.

[BradSpeedMan]

Insider, on 02 February 2012 - 10:33 AM, said:

Great post, Handy. Super stuff.

yes.... lovely stuff Handy

[Caesar]

Schumikonen, on 02 February 2012 - 03:50 AM, said:

That's a great news that means they won't be affected by that rules, I mean they won't have to change that much and therefore there won't be any performance lost by that regulation, that is IMO of course.

i can't wait to see new ferrari cause they have changed a lot on their car

[Schumikonen]

Insider, on 02 February 2012 - 10:33 AM, said:

Great post, Handy. Super stuff.  Looks nippy, for sure.

Agree, it would be good to have a "like" button like in facebook around here.

[Schumikonen]

Caesar, on 02 February 2012 - 12:47 PM, said:

i can't wait to see new ferrari cause they have changed a lot on their car

I was disappointed when I found out they canceled the launch due to snow, I am also waiting for that E20 and the new Mercedez, I think the Red Bull will look pretty much like last year's as even when they said it would be design from scratch, hopefully they will prove me wrong.

[Caesar]

Schumikonen, on 02 February 2012 - 01:05 PM, said:

I was disappointed when I found out they canceled the launch due to snow, I am also waiting for that E20 and the new Mercedez, I think the Red Bull will look pretty much like last year's as even when they said it would be design from scratch, hopefully they will prove me wrong.

well, ferrari will post photos online tomorrow. RB8 will be evolution of RB5, and i don't have any doubt that newey's design will pretty and fast , as always.

[Delta]

On the face of it this car doesn't look all that special, but the fact that they're cryptically obscuring their diffuser and exhaust exits tells me that there are other things that they have in planning. It will be interesting to see if they've been clever enough to beat Red Bull this time, rather than the damp squib of 2010 where their diffuser innovation turned out to be the hole in the diffuser for the starter motor which promptly got banned anyway.

[AleHop]

No bumpy nose!


Ugly!!!!